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[GameBlog Rumor] - Developers disclosing problems with Xbox One drivers [Updated]

Oh the drama. Is this still based on rumors or have we moved to anything resembling fact?

Nope, it's just a rumor that fanboy's are going crazy over.

They think that UBISOFT for instance would sign a exclusive content deal with Sony but then intentionally gimp the graphics of those games to appease MS.

10784751-1370965433-955737.jpg


10817204-1371038779-643629.jpg
 
I've said it once, and I'll say it again.

Microsoft's continued presence and influence is bad for the industry.

Even if the parity rumors are false I would still agree with you. This is a company that rushed out hardware and had widespread hardware failure as a result. This is a company that charged the customer a ridiculous dollar amount for accessories like hard drives and wi fi adapters. This is the company that ushered in paying for online gaming. To make matters worse, this same company blocks the user from using things like Netlix behind a paywall. They also routinely abandon their customers after three to four years by completely ceasing development on their current consoles because they've shut down so many studios. The ones they have remaining have been making avatars, long in the tooth franchises, and apps.

They tried, unsuccessfully, to usher in a console that was always online and had heavy DRM. So fuck this company. It was perfectly fine for games like Skyrim to run better on the 360, but now that the tables has turned Microsoft is protesting because of their fuck ups? I'll never buy another console from them again with the bullshit they've pulled and continue to try to pull.
 

avaya

Member
The one's forcing parity are being paid for it. They are not doing it out of their own volition. New hardware launch. If MS bans them from their console Sony gets an exclusive. How does this work out for MS? MS has no leverage but waving money.

They have to be paid to gimp. Political is code.
 
Forced parity by MS is most likely BS. Forced parity by publishers is no doubt a real thing however as that makes sense financially. If you make one version much weaker than the other, sales will drop.

Exactly, and it has been going on for the last ten years.........and everybody knows about it........

The "our games will look equal" message has existed since the dawning of last (this) gen (mostly when multiplat games performed better on 360) and you have to look no further than PC ports if you want to know about publishers and devs gimping one platform to satisfy another.

Yet all of a sudden a rumour about a rumour and its a thing that people suddenly care about massively.
 
Where is Albert when you need him?

If this is true it stinks to high heaven. We seen on current generation hardware the policies that took place. Sony also had a policy that if a game came out later they had to add additional content. Which of course is much better than forcing developers to have parity if one hardware is more powerful and telling them to make them the same. It's also better than Microsoft refusing the right to have games on the system if they do not have simultaneous releases. We're they involved with Rayman not coming out for the Wii U first?

I'd love somebody to come out and give details of what's really going on. Someone that is no longer being held captive working for a big publisher but there's still probably some legalities that prevent them from speaking.
 

Naminator

Banned
This feels like just more of the same rehashed bullshit to be honest.

I wouldn't even raise an eyebrow if we find out that there is no anonymous dev and all of the info in the article was lifted from GAF.
 

BigDug13

Member
Multiplatform games are going to look like utter garbage next to PS4 first party output if they decide to go with the "political downgrade" policy.
 
The one's forcing parity are being paid for it. They are not doing it out of their own volition. New hardware launch. If MS bans them from their console Sony gets an exclusive. How does this work out for MS? MS has no leverage but waving money.

They have to be paid to gimp. Political is code.

Do you know how many devs would take that money and run with it after all the bitching about increased development budgets and time frames?
 
You could say that for all the large players in the history of gaming. Atari, Nintendo, Sega, MS, Sony, SNK, Capcom, SQEN, EA, Ubisoft etc.. but a lot of MS business decisions since the 360 launch is probably game for the industry. blowing money on timed exclusives, blowing money courting casuals, and marginalizing small studios.

The timed exclusives thing is really the fault of both the publishers and the console makers. They want to lock in a base cash flow in case the game doesn't take off. Why not get a partial return on investment early and take option value on the actual game sales?

The courting casuals aspect is happening on both sides because they needed to broaden the pie. Mobile games are taking off while AAA game budgets are skyrocketing. Thus both sides are trying to get casual gamers in for the revenue stream. This industry can no longer survive solely on hardcore gamers. Do you really think there are hundreds of millions of hardcore gamers in the world?
 

sono

Gold Member
"Translates roughly to: (via google)

A choice that could also affect the PS4 versions of these games. Indeed, to avoid offending a manufacturer, publishers may prefer to market identical versions. Technically."




What did I just read.

No thank you.

NO.
 

Skeff

Member
Good analogy, I get your significance of the numbers. Although both those heights are really really low compared to the Nigerian team jumping 4m70cm. :) In the grand scheme, the diference between the two low heights really isn't that much. At least for me, sitting up the grandstands, to probably notice.

I could scale them so PS4 can jump 4m70 and xb1 can only jump 3m 35cm. I'm not very knowledgeable of the high jump :)
Also you should try get better seats to get better enjoyment from watching the high jump.
 

jaypah

Member
I honestly just wanted people to discuss the maturity of the XB1 SDK

Obviously thought there'd be some discussion of the forced parity but never thought it'd be like this.

Lmao, how else could this have possibly turned out?! I mean, you (unwittingly) threw bloody carcasses into shark infested water. This is console launch GAF baby, all gloves are off!
 
Even if the parity rumors are false I would still agree with you. This is a company that rushed out hardware and had widespread hardware failure as a result. This is a company that charged the customer a ridiculous dollar amount for accessories like hard drives and wi fi adapters. This is the company that ushered in paying for online gaming. To make matters worse, this same company blocks the user from using things like Netlix behind a paywall. They also routinely abandon their customers after three to four years by completely ceasing development on their current consoles because they've shut down so many studios. The ones they have remaining have been making avatars, long in the tooth franchises, and apps.

They tried, unsuccessfully, to usher in a console that was always online and had heavy DRM. So fuck this company. It was perfectly fine for games like Skyrim to run better on the 360, but now that the tables has turned Microsoft is protesting because of their fuck ups? I'll never buy another console from them again with the bullshit they've pulled and continue to try to pull.

Not to mention their lack of forecasting:

HDMI ? useless for games / HDMI ? now in newer models / no HDMI ? sorry, XBox 360S is HDMI only.

Custom memory cards ? are here to stay / use your USB stick / we doesn't support custom memory cards anymore.

HDD proprietary connector ? here it is / No, sorry, this is the new one.
 

avaya

Member
Do you know how many devs would take that money and run with it after all the bitching about increased development budgets and time frames?

Totally agree with that, just saying they aren't doing it for "political reasons". They are doing it for money, hard money.
 

Derrick01

Banned
I don't buy that they're paying publishers for parity. It makes no sense for MS or a publisher to risk causing a massive situation over advantages only the internet will notice. So they're going to risk pissing off the dedicated gamers and spending lots of money over this? It doesn't add up.
 

Skeff

Member
Where is Albert when you need him?

If this is true it stinks to high heaven. We seen on current generation hardware the policies that took place. Sony also had a policy that if a game came out later they had to add additional content. Which of course is much better than forcing developers to have parity if one hardware is more powerful and telling them to make them the same. It's also better than Microsoft refusing the right to have games on the system if they do not have simultaneous releases. We're they involved with Rayman not coming out for the Wii U first?

I'd love somebody to come out and give details of what's really going on. Someone that is no longer being held captive working for a big publisher but there's still probably some legalities that prevent them from speaking.

i don't think you'll ever get a confirmation on this, but it looks like it doesn't it?
 
It's EA. It's gimped. They signed up with MS for the DRM future they were promised. That deal won't make it through the generation.

My money is on EA. Ubisoft is giving Sony exclusive content and Ubisoft has historically been pro Sony at E3 and other venues.
 

Into

Member
Not buying this rumor at all, because at the end of the day third party games have to compete with not just Xbox One first party games that will look good but PS4 first party titles that will likely look amazing

Not even Nintendo in their hey day as kings of the industry could demand such a thing, neither could Sony during PS1 or PS2 days when they were the undisputed king.

MS is not a market leader and likely never will be, so i do not see from what angle some publisher would accept any of their "demands".
 
Lmao, how else could this have possibly turned out?! I mean, you (unwittingly) threw bloody carcasses into shark infested water. This is console launch GAF baby, all gloves are off!

The sad thing about all this?

If Aliand had used "may" instead of "will" when he referred to the forced parity it would be a different thread

This is of course due to my incompetence not his though

I never read much into what he said but of course everyone and their mother seems to have

I knew I should've posted a full google translate even if it is not very accurate sigh
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
if Xbox one is 'balanced' at 900p, but PS4 can do 1080p, then games are likely to be 'equal' in everything except resolution. I think that'd be enough for publishers to consider it 'parity'

Games on current gen often have lower resolution on one of the versions (usually PS3) or different/lacking effects, but on the whole they are pretty similar.

So there is plenty of wiggle room to satisfy both MS and Sony I think. I don't think they'll literally be forced (or paid) by MS to make them identical down to the pixel.
 

avaya

Member
My money is on EA. Ubisoft is giving Sony exclusive content and Ubisoft has historically been pro Sony at E3 and other venues.

If you followed Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD, MS tactics today are straight out of the HD-DVD playbook. A very good poster on this board reminded me of this, the execs running the Bone were the same bunch who ran the HD-DVD clown show. Paying for forced parity was par for the course in the early days of that farcical episode.
 
Oh hell naw... you best not be gimpin' my PS4 games dog, else Imma blow my fucking lid :mad:

I wouldn't put anything past MS and all, but I am having trouble believing that forced parity junk. These same publishers had no problem releasing shitty PS3 ports from day one without gimping the 360 versions of those games, so if they're able to get the PS4 version up and running better than the Xbone version then they sure as fuck better ship it like that instead of pulling some bullshit that isn't going to benefit anyone.

Seriously... what would MS and/or publishers GAIN from doing such a thing realistically? Sparing MS a few blushes in a Digital Foundry article and the odd review that points out the differences?

Big fucking whoop.

Best game you can give me or GTFO.
 

Tunesmith

formerly "chigiri"
if Xbox one is 'balanced' at 900p, but PS4 can do 1080p, then games are likely to be 'equal' in everything except resolution. I think that'd be enough for publishers to consider it 'parity'

Games on current gen often have lower resolution on one of the versions (usually PS3) or different/lacking effects, but on the whole they are pretty similar.

So there is plenty of wiggle room to satisfy both MS and Sony I think. I don't think they'll literally be forced (or paid) by MS to make them identical down to the pixel.

Ding.
 
If you followed Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD, MS tactics today are straight out of the HD-DVD playbook. A very good poster on this board reminded me of this, the execs running the Bone were the same bunch who ran the HD-DVD clown show. Paying for forced parity was par for the course in the early days of that farcical episode.

That's fine. Sony will just continue to pour their cash into first party exclusives and the same people that have been moneyhatting will be absolutely embarrassed at Sony's exclusive showings.
 

Knuf

Member
To the people saying we won't ever know if the PS4 version is gimped or not... if I were a 3rd party developer and some manager came to me forcing this parity, don't you think I'd do everything I can to make it public, one way or the other, after the game has been released? Personally I'd fucking hate if someone told me to spend my time to worsen a product I can be proud of.
 
I know it 'may' or 'may not' be an issue, but if PS4 versions of games get downgraded because Microsoft fucked up, I'll be beyond pissed.
 

Biker19

Banned
I've said it once, and I'll say it again.

Microsoft's continued presence and influence is bad for the industry.

Two things:

1. Xbox team that delivered the Xbox and 360 is not the same team that's been in charge the last few years and conceived the cluster fuck that is the Xbone

2. No one ever said anything about a Sony Monopoly. But Microsoft actions and decisions have continued to try and drive the industry into a anti-consumer direction. They are a terrible influence on the industry.

I agree. Heck, I don't even consider Microsoft as true competitors at all. Even Sega were better competitors than Microsoft back when they were making consoles.
 

Chumpion

Member
This should be simple, since we know XB1 is clearly weaker.

Any multiplat that is identical between XB1 and PS4 = boycott publisher.
 

tfur

Member
Uggh. What a mess if true.

I guess that was Alberts' intention of mentioning launch multiplats. It definitely adds to the taint of some of the launch games.
 

ymmv

Banned
Plenty have, some from France have even mentioned the site is considered a joke, and compared it to a tabloid, but all that gets ignored.

Edge wrote more or less the same thing two weeks ago:

The poor [graphics] drivers have made it difficult to push either of them, and the developers aren’t familiar with the hardware yet,“ said one source. Another stated that we’ll begin to see far greater use of each platform’s unique features once we’re past the first wave of releases, when developers have more time and experience with each console’s quirks.

One source even suggested that enforcing parity across consoles could become a political issue between platform holders, developers and publishers. They said that it could damage perceptions of a cross platform title, not to mention Xbox One, if the PS4 version shipped with an obviously superior resolution and framerate; better to “castrate” the PS4 version and release near-identical games to avoid ruffling any feathers.

The French blog article is either a confirmation of what Edge wrote or a rehash of the the above paragraphs.
 

Begaria

Member
Must be due to Microsoft ditching their 1.31 Teraflops and throwing in a R9-280X if our good friends over at misterxmedia are to be believed. Ha! I kid.
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
It's not about offending MS. It's about not pissing off people who only own XB1. Let's say there's a situation in which media reports that for example, Watch Dogs is notably better on PS4, and XB1 version is missing effects or has framerate problems or lower resolution, and reviews report that. Now, people who only own XB1 are going to say "well, if this version sucks, and they didn't bother spending time to make it work/look better, I'm just going to buy some other game". This mentality is what publishers worry about, and no amount of explaining that spending more time wouldn't make any difference, is going to help.

I think this has happened a lot with PS3 last gen, and publishers took note of it.
 
To the people saying we won't ever know if the PS4 version is gimped or not... if I were a 3rd party developer and some manager came to me forcing this parity, don't you think I'd do everything I can to make it public, one way or the other, after the game has been released? Personally I'd fucking hate if someone told me to spend my time to worsen a product I can be proud of.

you will lose your job the moment you go public by the publisher.
 

Orca

Member
Even if the parity rumors are false I would still agree with you. This is a company that rushed out hardware and had widespread hardware failure as a result. This is a company that charged the customer a ridiculous dollar amount for accessories like hard drives and wi fi adapters. This is the company that ushered in paying for online gaming. To make matters worse, this same company blocks the user from using things like Netlix behind a paywall. They also routinely abandon their customers after three to four years by completely ceasing development on their current consoles because they've shut down so many studios. The ones they have remaining have been making avatars, long in the tooth franchises, and apps.

They tried, unsuccessfully, to usher in a console that was always online and had heavy DRM. So fuck this company. It was perfectly fine for games like Skyrim to run better on the 360, but now that the tables has turned Microsoft is protesting because of their fuck ups? I'll never buy another console from them again with the bullshit they've pulled and continue to try to pull.

If you want to get someone out of the industry for selling overpriced peripherals, using online passes, and shutting down studios...well there wouldn't be much of an industry left.
 

Ebomb

Banned
To the people saying we won't ever know if the PS4 version is gimped or not... if I were a 3rd party developer and some manager came to me forcing this parity, don't you think I'd do everything I can to make it public, one way or the other, after the game has been released? Personally I'd fucking hate if someone told me to spend my time to worsen a product I can be proud of.

I doubt the console war is more important to somebody than their job and income.
 
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